


Not Stupid

by Simply_Fabulous



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Self Confidence Issues, Studying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 15:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1823629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simply_Fabulous/pseuds/Simply_Fabulous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bon is forced to tutor Rin, and Rin is really stuggling both with grades and himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Stupid

“No, no, no, no, no.” I protested loudly. “There’s no way in hell that I’m doing it.”  
“Come on, Bon.” Yukio replied. “Please? He could really benefit from this.”  
“Okay, but why the hell do I have to tutor that damn half-demon? Can’t you find someone else to?”  
“Look, Bon, you’re the top of the class. It would be best if you helped him out a little.”  
“But I don’t want to have to spend time with him.”  
“Please just do it, okay?” Yukio sighed. “He could really use the help and I’ll give you extra credit or something.”  
“Fine.” I grumbled.   
The next day, I was not looking forward to the end of class at all, and when the final bell rang, I had to drag myself out of my seat. I kept my eyes on Rin as he stood up to leave. Damn, why was I the one stuck with this? I sighed as I packed my bag and walked up to him.  
“Hey, Okumura, I’m the one who’s supposed to be tutoring you, so let’s go and get this over with as soon as possible.” I said and followed him to his dorm silently, ignoring his attempts to start a conversation with me.  
\---  
“Okay, so what do you want to start with?” I asked as a dropped my schoolbag on the ground.  
“I, uh… don’t know really.” He replied.  
“Well, what are you having trouble with?” I asked impatiently.   
“To be honest, everything really.” Rin said as he casually scratched the back of his head. I fought the urge to groan. Clearly this wasn’t going to be over quickly. From the way it looked right now, I was probably going to have to spend a hell of a lot more time than I wanted to helping Rin out.   
“Okay then,” I said, “Why don’t we start with Demonology? Have you memorized the names and stuff we were supposed to for the test?”  
“There’s a test?” Rin asked, his eyes widening with panic. “I don’t know. I can’t even remember what the teacher was saying!” I sighed and took a seat at Rin’s extremely messy desk.   
“Alright, sit down and take out your textbook and we’ll try to go through some of them again.” I sounded like a very irate teacher already. “And listen carefully this time.”  
“Okay!” Rin said as he pulled out his textbook and sat down next to me. He was less than a foot away from me. Why did he have to sit so damn close? Didn’t he know how distracting it was? Really, it was distracting, watching his tail wave slowly from left to right as he tried to find the right chapter. I noticed that he’d put his black hair up in that hairclip I’d given him at the start of the school year. He’d really still kept that? I mean, it was just a stupid hairclip, I’d have thought that he’d just have thrown it out by now, a dumb little cheap thing like that. He was looking at me now, those dark blue eyes locked onto mine.  
“Bon?” He asked, his voice taking me by surprise. My heart was beating faster now. He just surprised you, that’s all, I told myself. Nothing more to it.  
“Wha?” I replied.  
“So, what demons am I meant to study?” He asked, indicating to his textbook. I took a deep breath. Yes, that was right. The demons. I tried to concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing, thinking hard as I tried to recall the list of demons discussed in class today.  
“Uh… There was Jikininki…” I began. Rin began flipping through his textbook quickly, searching for their description.  
“Uhm… uhm… Don’t tell me…” Rin said as he searched frantically, “They’re from India?” He asked uncertainly.  
“No. Japanese. Now can you tell me what they do?” I asked.  
“Do they… err… do they cause bad luck?” He said hopefully.   
“No.” I answered. “They eat corpses and steal their belongings.” This pattern continued for every other demon that was on the list. Rin answered every question which I asked wrong, growing angrier with himself every time something came out of his mouth. He was trying, I could tell. He was trying very hard, but it just wasn’t working for him, and soon he’d had enough.  
“Arrgh!” He yelled, slamming his head against the desk, exasperated. “I can’t get anything right!”   
“Rin…” I began.  
“No! I… I can’t get any of this. I can’t memorize the names of demons, I can’t know chants from Holy Scriptures off by heart, and it’s not like I can make any useful medicine out of our plants! I can’t do anything right!” Rin said sullenly, his voice muffled. I guess I felt kind of bad. I mean, it must be hard for him. Half of the stuff we’d gone over in class was stuff that I’d already learned at the temple. Rin, on the other hand, was starting from scratch. Maybe before, I’d thought of him as a little slow or something, but I guess I didn’t think about it enough. He didn’t have the information that I’d had growing up, this was all completely new to him.  
“Rin…” I said again, trying to find the words to say. What the hell was I supposed to say in this situation? I’m sorry that I grew up chanting and learning about demons? Being emotionally supportive was never one of my strong suits, and I felt lost. Hearing Rin’s heavy, irregular breaths, I knew that I had to do something at least. Gently, I placed a hand on Rin’s back. “Rin?” I asked “Rin? Are you… are you crying?”   
Rin sniffed and sat up. His eyes were watery and red. I wanted to do something. I wanted to help. He looked so sad and heartbroken that I couldn’t just let him go on like this.  
“I’m going to fail.” He said dejectedly. “I can’t get any of this, I never have and I never will. Maybe I’m just too dumb to be an exorcist.”  
“Don’t say that.” I said softly.   
“It’s true! I’m stupid! I’ll never get any of this right!”  
“Don’t say that.” I said again, and I placed a hand on either side of his face on impulse. His cheeks were damp with tears. I leaned closer until my face was inches from his. “You’re not stupid.”   
Rin did not reply, he simply looked away, blushing slightly. Was that because I told him he wasn’t stupid, or because I was holding his face like this? I felt blood rush to my cheeks too as I realized what I was doing. But at the same time, I didn’t want to stop. Even though it was damp, his skin still felt nice under my hands, soft and smooth. A few strands of hair had worked their way out of his hairclip and his uniform was wrinkled already. He looked pretty damn cute, blushing like he did right now.  
Wait, did I just call Rin cute?  
Rin?  
Cute?  
What the hell was going on with me?   
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and tried to think of something to say to fill up the awkward silence that fell heavily upon the room.  
“You’re not stupid, you know.” I repeated.  
“But I am.” Rin said quietly. “It’s not just when it comes to exorcist things, I’m failing regular class too, I used to even when I was a little kid. And I could never keep a job down for more than two weeks before I came here. Everything I try, it always ends up a failure. I don’t know, I thought that maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time I’d so something right, but I guess I can’t get past it. I’m just gonna fail again like every other time.”  
“You can’t know that for sure.”   
“It’s easy for you to say! You’re the top of the class, never gets anything wrong! And I’m just a… just a.” Before he could finish, I leaned over and kissed him. I didn’t know what came over me, I just wanted him to stop saying things like that about himself.   
The kiss only lasted a few seconds. At first Rin was surprised. I pulled my lips away before I got the chance to find out if he would reject me, or return it. It had worked to some degree, I could say. At least Rin had stopped insulting himself. However now, he was staring at me, confused.  
“You aren’t stupid.” I repeated again.  
“Bon…” He began quietly.  
“Come on, let’s go over that list of demons one more time.” I said, placing an arm around his shoulder.


End file.
